College Hoops 2K8: Go Aggies

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I wanted to take a different team this time around, but I also wanted to stay in the same region, so I take over the North Carolina A&T Aggies, located in Greensboro, NC, in the MEAC(Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference). Unlike the Southern Conference which actually had a couple formidable teams like Davidson, the MEAC is basically crap, to the point that 7 of the 11 teams in the conference are bad enough to be available at the start of a closed legacy.



NC A&T is listed initially 68 overall/70 offense/64 defense/30 unity.

I max out Charisma for my head coach, B+, and leave everything else C-. That's a bit different than my last dynasty, where it took two years of improvements to get charisma up that high b/c I balanced out some other ratings as well.


For assistants, I bring in the best scout I can find, C+, he happens to be C+ at offense as well, but F on D.

My other assistant is C+ on offense, C- Defense, C+ teaching(and crap everywhere else).


Scheduling

We have a killer schedule by default, with games at Pitt, DePaul, Tennessee, Missouri, Miami(FL) and Washington State... yeah no thanks, I'll take some wins please. We sub in games vs Campbell, at Northern Arizona, Binghamton, and Savannah State for some of the games above.


On to the season, roster overview and recruitign goals next.

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Starting 5

PG - Neil Head - SO - 63 OVR - an average shooter from medium range and 3 point land, an excellent free throw shooter which we'll keep in mind in close games. Head is rated 73 on defense, pretty weak at steals and not overly fast. He's an average ball handler and passer.

SG - Brien Hope - SR - 70 OVR - a big time shooter. 86(A-) medium range and 92(A) 3 point shot. An average defender with decent speed, this guy will score a lot for me. Its a shame he's a senior.

SF - Alwamy Stiles JR - 61 OVR - I really have a hard time reading some of these first names. Almamy? Alwawy? Whatever. A Stiles! He's uhhh... average. He won't be shooting 3's, won't be rebounding a lot, isn't a great defender. I'm not excited about this kid at all.

PF - Johnny Lowe - SR - 68 OVR - an average close range shot, above average low post offensive game, he's got good hands and speed for a PF, good awareness and athletic ratings, but the big problem is that he's 6'6" playing PF. That could be an issue.

C - Renato Forchon - FR - 61 OVR - Average inside, average low post player in general, he's an above average shot blocker who lacks anything special. He's also 6'9". Bringing in some size will be key here.


Off the bench

SG Jay Mathis - SR - 60 OVR - an average shooter who I would'nt mind taking midrange jumpers, but he's not got much going for him, weak on defense, slow, poor passing.

SF Lamont Davis - JR - 58 OVR - Terriblepasser, a very average shooter who has no ratings at all above C+.

SF Clinton Gilchrist - SR - 57 OVR - These bench guys are just warm bodies.

SG Martin Burns - JR - 57 OVR - This warm body is a walk on.

PF Dell McKowen - FR - 57 OVR - Not a bad defender, decent close range shooter, this guy will develop into a starter most likely. Not a great one, but he'll start.

PG Omar Axton - SO - 55 OVR - shooting all in the low 70s, defense in the low 70s. C- Handling and Passing skills.



So there we go. Priority #1 is to recruit a big man. Priority #2 is to recruit some speedy defenders. Priority #3 is a jump shooter.

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Recruiting

We have 3 scholarships, and decide to hammer two players early on to try to get early signings. We'll worry about the rest after the early period. C Edward Chiles is a 2* 7'1" big man from Chapel Hill. Despite being a 2* guy he is ranked 464th overall and 53rd at center. His priorities are good, he wants to be close to home, to feel wanted, and to get playing time. No problem with any of that at NC A&T buddy! We quickly get his interest up to 87% before our first game and are #1 on his list. PG Henry Buckman is a 2* PG out of Durham, rated 626th overall. We've got him up to 85% and are #1 on his list. #2 is Campbell, who we play in our first week of games. Buckman scouts as a B- shooter and defender and wants playing time and to be close to home. his 3rd priority is to play for a big school but hopefully he'll realize he's not good enough for that. these guys get the bulk of my points for now, with some secondary targets getting calls and such that we'll go after once we sign or lose these top two.


Nov 9, 2007 - Saint Louis 83, NC A&T 59

We get 25 points from Hope, and 10 points from PF Lowe. Yeah, that's about what I expect game to game here...



Nov 10, 2007 - Campbell(0-0) at NC A&T(0-1)

And here we'll play our first game. Its a pretty even matchup based on overall ratings. They have a stud PF rated in the high 70s. they have a junior PG with no game experience which hopefully works in our favor.

Well, we lead by as much as 6 in the first half, and we shoot well. I upped the foul sliders some and maybe too much for shooting fouls, it seems like every time we drive we get fouled. Hope looks like a stud, he's the type of player that every time i see him open I want him shooting. We lead 36-34 at the half.

The second half is defensive and ugly. Its back and forth and close though. with about 1:15 left its 54-51 Campbell, and we are unable to execute in the final minute, Hope misses a 3, they hit enough free throws, and we just can't sink shots in the last minute.

campbell 62
NC A&T 53


We shoot 40% on the game to Campbell's 39%, but they have 10 steals(they had a full court press that gave us trouble after made baskets) and got some easy buckets that was the difference.

We got 14 points from Hope, 12 from Lowe, and 8 from Forchion(center). Lowe really seems to be a good force inside despite his lack of size.

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Nov 24, 2007 - NC A&T 81, DePaul 65

Well that's a pretty shocking win. We get pure dominance from Lowe and Hope. Lowe gives us 27 points and 7 boards, while Hhope has 21 points. Forchion has 9. It was 36-34 at the half and the Aggies put on a 47-27 second half clinic to get the win.



Nov 27, 2007 - N. Arizona 79, NC A&T 61

Maybe DePaul just sucks, hm. Hope scores 13, so does PG Head before getting into foul trouble. Gilchrist has 10 off th bench, and Lowe also has foul trouble and scores 9(w/ 11 boardS).


Dec 1, 2007 - NC A&T (1-3) at Norfolk State (2-2)

Norfolk State has a stud SG in Hassan Turiaf, and is very, very average everywhere else. They don't look to press as much as Campbell did so hopefully we'll fare better here. We rate better than them overall. Pound it in to Lowe, feed Hope for open shots is pretty much the gameplan.

We struggle with foul trouble in this one, sending Norfolk State to the line an insane 15 times, where they go 15/15. They're only shooting 32% from the field, but lead 32-23. If we can keep them off the line in the 2nd half we probably have a shot. Lowe has 6, and Hope 5 for us.

We can't really get the lead down below 5 for any period of time. I'm not sure what hurt us more, fouls, or Norfolk State offensive rebounds. They only outrebounded us 33-32, but grabbed 10 offensive boards, 3 of them on free throws towards the end when we were fouling to try to get the ball back. In the end they only shot 25% but Norfolk State going to the line 26 times to our 4 is kinda insurmountable.

Norfolk State 50
NC A&T 43

Hope scored 10 on 4-14 shooting, Forchion had 8, and Lowe 8 in the low scoring loss.